I'm going into town, Tomoe
by Ichigo to Hana
Summary: Tomoe is afraid of those very words, words that Mikage used shortly before he left him alone. But those words do not always mean goodbye. Maybe, Tomoe should just follow...


Hey, Ichigo here. Sorry for the lack of talk lately (is somebody even reading that stuff? I mean we enjoy being silly at the beginning, but still...)but Hana and I are currently quite busy. Though we probably will add it later. Anyway, enjoy our latest story for our Christmas project. Have fun reading and do not forget to solve our riddle and send the answer as a PM to us.

 **I´m going into town, Tomoe**

"I´m going into town, Tomoe."  
The familiars eyes grew wide as he heard those words, those hated words that made him shiver every time. Images of Mikage appeared in his mind, images of him smiling and then leaving, to never come back. Tomoe remembered how he waited for him, how he hoped the land god would come back soon, but it never happened. He was left alone.  
"Tomoe, did you hear me? Where are you?"  
This wasn´t Mikage´s voice! The familiar jumped to his feet and ran for the door. At the entrance of the shrine stood Nanami, dressed up in her winter coat, a long rose scarf around her neck and a pair of warm and soft mittens to protect her fingers from the cold. She smiled at him and waved goodbye.

"Wait!", Tomoe shouted. He did not want her to go, to leave him like Mikage had done. "Why are you going?"  
"I told you I want to buy some Christmas presents, which I can only do in town. Don´t you remember, we talked about that yesterday evening."  
 _That's right_ he now remembered. _How silly of me to believe Nanami would leave me alone.  
_ "You know", her voice pulled him back into reality, "You could always join me." The fox tilted his head. "Join you? Why should I…"  
"Well, if you choose to stay here alone, it is fine by me too. See you later." Only a couple of seconds later, Tomoe stood next to her, dressed up for the cold weather as well, ears hidden under a hat.

"What made you change your mind?" Nanami asked after a while. It had started to snow lightly, covering everything in a soft powder-like layer. Little footprints of birds could be seen here and there, mixed together with other ones of bigger animals and humans too. Excepted for the crunching sound their shoes made as soon as they hit the ground and their own voices, everything was quiet, peaceful even. "I just felt like going outside, that's all", he claimed, but the girl knew better. _He probably thought about Mikage again._  
"Tomoe?"  
"Mhhh?"  
"You know I´d never leave you behind like that."  
"Mhhh?"

With a small sigh of amusement, Nanami took his hand into her own clothed one. He did not withdrew his, though he did not return the gesture. Silently they walked though the park they were currently in, until they reached the street, which would lead them downtown.  
It was an unfamiliar place to the fox yokai, everything was loud and busy. The air wasn´t as fresh as it was back at the shrine and too many humans crossed his way. Even though he came her more often lately, because of his Lady, he did not seem to get used to it. However Nanami seemed to enjoy it. Her eyes shone with excitement as they strode along the illuminated streets. Every shop owner had decorated his store window with lights, ornaments and fir twigs. Some of them had even put up a small Christmas tree with lots of different baubles in red, yellow and orange. Christmas presents and chatting Humans could be seen everywhere, some of them alone, others with their family, friends and beloved.

"Now that we are here, where do you intent to go?", the silver haired male questioned. "Let´s see, I made a list." His lady and mistress started to dig through her purse, which seemed to grew bigger each time she searched for something. "Found it!"  
"Well?"  
"First of all, we need to go to a shop that sells fairy lights, as we do not own any of them. I want to decorate the shrine a bit, so visitors can enjoy the Christmas spirit there too. Then we need to buy a present for Mizuki. I want to gift him a new scarf and a music book, so he has some notes he can practice on for his flute playing. Additionally I want to look for some toys for Kotetsu and Onikiri, the spirits will love them! Oh, and we should not forget to grab some food for our Christmas dinner too! And as soon as we finished doing so…"  
"There is more?", Tomoe interrupted her. "Yes, we need one more present. One for you!"

The familiars stopped in the middle of their walking. "A Present for me?"  
"Sure, why would you think I leave you out?"  
"I simply did not thought you wanted to buy something for me too." The girl walked in front of his sight. "Of course I want to gift you something too! But I have to ask you to leave with the rest of our purchases before I´ll get it."  
"Why that?" Nanami laughed about his suspicious glance. "´Cause it´s a secret up until Christmas eve what you´ll get. Now enough talking lets go!"

Shaking his head, Tomoe followed his lady through the busy streets of the city. Their first stop was at a place called "Mikes magical lights". It was a small cozy looking shop with a well decorated window and a little bell above the door, ringing as soon as someone entered the room. Even though Tomoe was not a big fan of human-made stuff he had to admit, that some of the fairy lights looked quite nice. The shop supported lots of different ones, some of them had white or yellow light, some of them red one. He didn´t however liked the blue or green ones. Nanami had started to talk to the shop owner, so the fox decided to search on his own for something, which caught his attention.

In the corner of his eyes, he saw a chain of little stars that shimmered in a soft light. They looked like the ones he could see on a cloudless night and seemed to be quite charming. "Do you like this one?", Nanami suddenly asked behind him. He nodded. "Then let´s get it!"

After purchasing their first item, the two of them continued to walk along the snowy sidewalk. "Now we need to find a store that sells music items or a book store, there we can find the notes for Mizuki."  
"Would this one be suitable?" Tomoe pointed at a wooden door with a glowing sign that showed an open book and a writing feather. "Yes, let´s go inside."

This time, they were faced by the smell of incense cones, which were placed at the counter. A friendly looking older man with round glasses greeted them. Nanami quickly asked if they supported music books and notes, to which the shop owner answered with a nod and a pointed finger down a corridor. Grabbing Tomoe's hand, the human girl walked right towards it. From the outside, the store had looked much smaller, but now from the inside it could be seen, that lots of floors belonged to it. The shelves where filled with all kinds of books, bigger ones, small ones, some of them with colorful covers, other ones held simply black. Nanami chose a smaller one with melodies for beginners, as Mizuki was not the best at playing the flute. To put it mildly. Turning around, the girl recognized, that her familiar had gone missing again.

After a while of searching, she found him on the second level, reading a book about cooking. "I want to get this one too", he said without even looking up from the lined. Nanami tilted her head to read what was written on the cover. " _The large collection of exotic dishes".  
_ "What do you want to cook with that?", she asked warily. "An ostrich maybe. Or a giant fish."  
"Tomoe, we are _not_ cooking our friends!" **  
**"Fine, but let´s still purchase it. There are vegetarian dishes too."  
"You do not intend to turn Mizuki into a potato or something?"  
"No?", he gave her his best fake innocent look. "Why would you think that?" The girl sighed. "I´ll get it for you."

Happy that they already had some things on her list, Nanami dragged Tomoe into another store. This time, it sold clothing. The shop owner gave Tomoe and his traditional clothing a strange look, though he did not say anything. While his lady and mistress was looking for a scarf for the annoying snake, Tomoe himself searched around a bit. A dark blue skirt and a white blouse caught his attention. He tried to imagine Nanami in it and was quite satisfied with the outcome. Remembering her clothing size, as he sometimes washed her school uniform, he picked a skirt and its matching top and bought it, while the human was still deciding whether the green and blue scarf or the green and white one would suit the snake better. She chose the latter and purchased it too. Tomoe was already waiting for her at the exit.

"Found everything?"he asked as soon as they started to walk again. "Yes. Now we only need some food and toys for the shrine spirits, then you can go home so I can get a present for you."  
"Lets split up for some minutes, you can get the toys, I´ll look for the food. I saw a store over there which sold all kinds of cooking goods and I want to get something for a dish I found inside my new book."  
"Ok fine, let´s do so. We´ll meet here in thirty minutes again?" The fox nodded, then hurried of into the direction he had shown Nanami earlier. The girl on the other hand headed towards a different direction, where she knew a big toy store was situated. She could also look for a present to give to her familiar, as he was currently not with her.

Tomoe hurried while getting the food he needed to cook. Early that evening he had seen a small store that sold old traditional jewelry, maybe there he would find the perfect last touch for his own present for his lady. The skirt and the blouse were nice, but he wanted something more personal, which he hoped to find there.

The doorbell rang as the fox yokai entered. It was warm inside and smelled of cinnamon and oranges. The light was not as bright as in the previous shops, which created a more relaxed atmosphere. His sight fell on all kinds of different items, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, brooches and elegant scarves. But none of them caught his interest. He wanted to gift something special; something Nanami knew came from his heart and held a special meaning. Everything he just saw was too flashy and glittering. Not his taste. His gaze started to wander again. There had to be something!

Just as he wanted to give up, he saw the perfect gift. The item was blue with a little butterfly on it and some fragile looking flowers. Connected to it were two little chains, each ending in a small silver droplet. It was perfect.

The shop owner, a young girl with a bright smile on her face, gently took the item from him and placed it inside a small long packaging, encasing it afterwards with some wrapping paper. "Is this for your girlfriend?", she asked as Tomoe wanted to pay. He paused. _My girlfriend?_ _Nanami is my lady and mistress, I as her familiar have to watch after her, we only support a professional relationship._ He wanted to say no, but a small voice in his head prevented him from doing so. _As if_ it shouted. _You like her, do not deny it! "_ It is fore someone very dear to me", he simply answered with a small smile on his lips. The girl giggled a little, then gave him the present and wished him a good evening.

Back outside Tomoe rushed into the direction he and Nanami wanted to meet up again. She was already awaiting him with more shopping bags than he had left her. _So she_ _must have been successful then._ _Well, I was too._

Greeting her, he recognized a pleasant smell. "Did you buy some food too?" She nodded. "Yes, but be careful, they are hot!"

She dragged him towards a bench, pushed the snow away and gestured him to sit next to her. They ate the their sweet honey filled dough balls in pleasant silence, while watching the snow fall softly. The little stars landed quiet on the ground as well as on their clothing and Nanami watched one of them in awe as it landed on her gloves.

"Such pretty little things. So soft and beautiful." The snowflake started to melt because of her body heat. "Yet it only lives for a short time. You have to enjoy it as long as it still exists." Tomoe tilted his head to look at Nanami´s face, her cheeks slightly red from the cold. "True. And you should hold those short but sweet moment very dear to you." As an answer, she gave him a sweet smile. "Let´s go home, shall we? Mizuki and the others are probably awaiting us."

Taking the same route they came in the first place, they headed towards their destination in silence again. It was the fox yokai who took the human land god's hand this time. She did not withdrew his hand, but instead closed her fingers more around his.

"By the way, what took you so long? Did you went to another stop while we were separated? I thought you´d be much quicker than me." Tomoe smiled a little. "You will have to wait and see."

 **Riddle:** What did Tomoe get as a gift for Nanami?

Stories so far:

1st December: Inuyasha – Lord of the kitchen

2nd December: Artemis Fowl – The tale of the handsome commander

3rd December: Inuyasha – Miroku´s wish list

4th December: Iron Fey Series – Dream beaches

5th December: Kamisama Kiss – How to _not_ freeze to death

6th December: Inuyasha – Surprise surprise

7th December: Kamisama Kiss – I´m going into town, Tomoe

8th December: tomorrow


End file.
